This has to be the most interesting time to be working at the intersection of HR, organisation development and technology.
Leading change in 2014 includes responding to growing markets, geographical expansion, mergers & acquisitions and cross-cultural leadership across 5 generations. The importance of effective leadership, talent management and high employee engagement has never been so great.
There is a lot of buzz around technology as a driver for change in areas such as talent identification and development and workforce productivity. Its use can span all areas of HR and management, from working out which candidates are most likely to be our top future sales performers, to providing tools that enable a manager to monitor performance of a global project team. At the same time we have massive changes in our workforce, from the rise of the freelancer economy, to skills shortages and demand for 24 X 7 collaboration.
We can be proud that HR has been a pioneer in adopting many emerging technologies such as Cloud applications like Workday, Oracle Fusion and SuccessFactors. Social Media in HR has in LinkedIn a high profile corporate leader, and the adoption of Mobile is changing the recruitment landscape. HR also has the advantage of having change management skills to ensure successful implementations.
At the HR Change & Transformation 2014 Conference, we will hear from speakers who will showcase HR innovation happening in their organisations. Speakers from different industries and sectors will share their insight and expertise in Leadership, Change & Culture, from identifying talent to developing and integrating a new generation of leaders. Effective change management is a blend of the right change strategy combined with getting the small things right. We will hear examples of how different organisations have achieved this.
We are also at an HR Strategy crossroads, where many of our HR strategies are undergoing radical change. Some of them were developed 50 years ago, when business and society were very different to how they are now. In addition, the set of external drivers which moved us to the HR operating models of the 90s are changing fast, so now is a good time to re-assess. Many current HR operating models are not fit for the future given the transformational change going on in our economy and workplace.
In some organisations, HR needs to transform itself first before it can lead change and transform organisations. In our Talent & Transformation stream, we will hear examples of how organisations have transformed HR to delivery business goals. HR Transformation is not really about HR. Although HR is the focus, the outcome is about improving People Management in organisations. HR is well positioned at the crux of workforce, productivity and human beings. HR Transformation is really about “Workforce Transformation” with HR making the rallying call. With new agile HR operating models, we need to think about what skills capabilities HR will need for better performance Management and business integration.
For successful HR Transformation, the trick is for HR to empower managers, in Technology, Tools & Insight. We will hear about the rise of Mobile, Social and Gamification and the benefits of Analytics in HR. Fundamentally, HR does not yet need Big Data; it needs Big Questions. What problems do we need to solve in HR? We will hear from speakers who have solved business problems using analytics and a new set of tools.
Over time, Software-as-a-Service will make us standardise our HR processes – because we will have to use the systems as they are, not configure them to our existing processes.
This is an important time in the history of people management with the convergence of technology innovation, workforce demographics and economic restructuring.
In 2014, we are too busy to care about being invited to the top table. We now have an opportunity to create our own table and invite who we want!
This conference will showcase many examples of HR innovation some of which you will adopt in the future. Enjoy the sharing and let us know what examples of HR innovation you will be speaking about in 2015.
I am chairing one of the streams at this event and will also be facilitating a Pre-Conference Workshop “7 Steps to Transform HR” – a pragmatic and practical approach to transformation using strategies that have worked with real HR case studies. A 10% discount code is available for our HR Transformer Blog readers, CT14AS9. Be great to see you there! #HRCT14
Andrew Spence
HR Transformation Director
Glass Bead Consulting
June 2014
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